Assistance systems to assist the driver have been produced in the automotive sector for several years. Various system variants are already believed to be understood, starting from night vision systems or rear view backup cameras which simply depict an image, through surround-view systems which depict the entire 360° surroundings of the vehicle, all the way to systems which use a front camera to automatically recognize traffic signs, traffic lanes, objects and the like.
In rail traffic, important pieces of information are output to the operators of rail vehicles with the aid of signals or mounted or suspended signs. One important signal in this context is the so-called SH-4 “ringing” signal, which prompts the operator to actuate a signaling device of the rail vehicle, which in the case of a street car is the street car bell, for example, to indicate the approaching rail vehicle. JP 2008215938 A discusses a unit for recognizing a railroad signal situated ahead.